AMG Review of Dreams of Water Themes

Rick Anderson
All Music Guide

Adventure Time is a duo consisting of DJs Daedelus and Frosty, both of them apparently using this project as an excuse to give vent to some of their more whimsical (and occasionally downwright goofy) musical impulses. It's difficult to think of any other explanation for an album of chilled-out hip hop that features both a nautical theme and a slew of samples drawn from such disparate sources as Billie Holiday, Lee "Scratch" Perry, and Art Linkletter. The Holiday sample comes right at the very beginning, during the scene-setting "Age of Aquariums" (har har) and just a little bit before the artfully laid-back rapping of Pigeon John on "Whetting Whistles" and the otherworldly instrumental groove of "Water Signs." On "General Midi vs. Rusty 4eyes," the Perry vocalisms are scattered throughout an amazing piece of funque concrète, in which blissfully smooth jazz flutes and keyboards are juxtaposed with slamming breakbeats. Other highlights include the spare and dub-wise "Rusty Anchors Wrestling Waves" and the dark and foreboding "Girl of the Well," which sounds at times very much like music from Kabuki or Noh drama as it might be reconceived by African Head Charge. Highly recommended.